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Oscar Pistorius' friend recounts gunshot incident at restaurant

A neighbor of Oscar Pistorius is testifying on the third day of the murder trial of the double-amputee athlete, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend in his home in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day last year.

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Double amputee and Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius fired a gun in a restaurant last year but convinced someone else to take the blame, a friend testified at Pistorius' murder trial Wednesday in Pretoria, South Africa.

Pistorius is accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, one month after the restaurant incident.

Professional boxer Kevin Lerena testified that he, Pistorius, British sprinter Martyn Rooney and Darren Fresco were lunching at Tasha's restaurant in Johannesburg when the bullet was fired, grazing Lerena's toe and going into the floor, the South African Times Live reported.

"I don't know for what reason, but a gun was passed under the table," Lerena testified.

He said that Pistorius apologized profusely after the gun went off in his hand, then asked Fresco to take responsibility.

"Please Darren, just say it was you, I don't want any tension around me," Lerena quoted Pistorius as saying. "Mr. Fresco said when he spoke to the restaurant owners that the gun caught on his pants. He did take the rap."

Lerena said he ignored the incident until the Valentine's Day shooting of Steenkamp, which could see Pistorius jailed for life.

"I never spoke about it again," Lerena said. "On the 16th I had over 100 phone calls from the media."

Earlier Wednesday, chief defense lawyer Barry Roux sought to undermine the prosecution testimony of a couple who said they heard a woman's screams and gunfire the night that Pistorius killed Steenkamp. Telephone records will show that the banging sounds the neighbors heard were not gunshots but a distressed Pistorius breaking down the toilet cubicle door with a cricket bat after realizing he had shot Steenkamp when she was in the toilet, thinking it was an intruder, Roux asserted.

The state maintained there was a loud argument on the night he shot Steenkamp through a door in his bathroom and screams and shouts before a gun was fired. Roux says the screams were Pistorius calling for help after the accidental killing.

Pistorius, 27, was a globally admired athlete whose career peaked when he ran in the 2012 Olympics. He was born without fibula bones because of a congenital defect and his legs were amputated when he was 11 months old. He has run on carbon-fiber blades and is a multiple Paralympic medalist. He also competed at the London Olympics but didn't win a medal.

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South African Paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius, center, reacts at the High Court in Pretoria, on July 6 after being sentenced to six years in jail for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago.
AFP/Getty Images

CORRECTS TO LEAVING Oscar Pistorius (C) is escorted to a police vehicle to be transported to prison following his sentencing at the High Court in Pretoria on Oct. 21, 2014.
Gianluigi Guercia, AFP/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius arrives at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Oct 13, 2014 for a sentencing hearing that will determine whether he serves jail time for the negligent killing of his girlfriend.
Mike Hutchings, Reuters

Oscar Pistorius is pictured ahead of the final arguments of his murder trial at the high court in Pretoria on Aug. 7, 2014. Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who was fatally shot inside his home.
Werner Beukes, AFP/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius arrives for his trial on April 11, 2014. As the defense opens its case, the 27-year-old Paralympian gave the court his first account of why he shot dead his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013.
Mujahid Safodien, AFP/Getty Images

Carl, brother of South African Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, attends the cross-examination by the State prosecutor at his brother's murder trial on April 10,2014.
Werner Beukes, AFP/Getty Images

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius reacts during his trial on March 10 at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistorius is on trial for shooting and killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day on 2013. He said he shot her by mistake, thinking she was an intruder.
Pool photo by Bongiwe Mchunu

Oscar Pistorius, left, listens to evidence from a witness who is speaking about the morning of the shooting of Pistorius' girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at the high court on March 6 in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death on Valentine's Day in 2013.
Marco Longari, AP